The ongoing war in Iran and Lebanon that has killed thousands of civilians, struck closer to home this week with the combat death of 28 year-old Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad from Ozone Park, Queens who died when her base in Jordan came under an Iranian missile and drone attack.
The New York Times is reporting the Pentagon is failing to disclose US casualties and the scale of damage being down to US bases in the region by the Iranians. Even after finally raising the death toll of US service members killed in action to 18, the Pentagon rolled it back to 14 the next day, asserting that four of the deaths had occurred AFTER President Trump had declared a cease-fire in April.
President Trump has imposed a new round of tariffs on more than 80 nations, despite the US Supreme Court ruling in February that struck down Trump's initial round of tariffs as unconstitutional. The Guardian is reporting that Trump's latest erratic geopolitical moves, including his renewed attacks on Iran that sent oil prices ever higher, has caused Asian stock markets to slide.
For the thirteenth night in a row, the United States launched air strikes on Iran, as Trump's war of choice with Iran, a nation of over 93 million people, appeared to be spiralling out of control with the President claiming he was avenging the latest deaths of US soldiers, which would likely cause more casualties that would be used to justify more escalation.
"Underlining the sense of a region increasingly approaching an abyss, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, told the security council that the Middle East was being pushed to the “edge of the unimaginable” amid mounting fears over the trajectory of the conflict, according to the Guardian's Peter Beaumount.
The UN's Guterres warned the body's security council "the situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable. The region is being pulled into an ever-widening circle of confrontation. One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next. As this dynamic spreads, the political objectives are becoming increasingly obscured by the confrontation itself.”
The ongoing war in Iran and Lebanon that has killed thousands of civilians, struck closer to home this week with the combat death of 28 year-old Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad from Ozone Park, Queens who died when her base in Jordan came under an Iranian missile and drone attack.
This Friday, I shared my reporter's notebook from my coverage of a well attended rally outside 26 Federal Plaza in support of hundreds of unionized federal workers for the Pentagon's Army Corps of Engineers New York Headquarters that are being forced to move to New Jersey.
It was organized by the New York Central Labor Council in support of IFPTE Local 98 which represents over 400 workers at the Army Corps of Engineers. Other unions were also well represented at the lunch time rally including AFM Local 802, PSC-CUNY and RWDSU.
Historically, under past presidents of both parties, the union would have been consulted. Yet, from the outset of President Trump's second term the administration has targeted regulatory agencies like the Army Corp of Engineers that regulate developers as part of their mission to protect the nation's navigable waterways and wetlands.
"The Army Corps’ New York District manages a $1.1 billion program involving coastal resiliency, navigation, environmental protection, military construction and emergency response," according to the union. "The North Atlantic Division manages 119 ongoing projects across 22 congressional districts in New York State."
Russell Vought, head of the Trump administration's Office of Management and Budget, was one of the lead author's of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 which called for a radical downsizing of the federal government by an emboldened unitary executive.
Prior to assuming his OMB post for a second time, ProPublica flagged a video in which Vought's animus toward the federal civil service was made apparent.
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains," Vought said. "We want their funding to be shut down … We want to put them in trauma.”
According to IFPTE, over 270,000 federal workers have been fired since the start of Trump's second term including 95,300 black women federal civil servants.
“We stand with the workers of IFPTE Local 98 in their fight to keep the Army Corps of Engineers in New York City,” said New York City Central Labor Council President Brendan Griffith. “We’re committed to keeping this institution older than the nation in the five boroughs, building the critical infrastructure for the future of New York City.”
Also on hand was former New York City Brad Lander, who recently won the Democratic primary to represent the 10th Congressional District. Lander has been a regular presence on behalf of immigrants keeping their appointments with immigration judges at 26 Federal Plaza and was also arrested by ICE agents and detained only to later be acquitted of all charges.
Lander blasted the Trump administration and the Pentagon for ignoring entirely it;s obligation to consult and deliberate with the union about their plans to move the New York office across the Hudson to New Jersey.
"Some people would have thought that I was applying for a job at the US Army Corps of Engineers because I have been visiting so frequently and of course I would be very honored if I were a part of IFPTE Local 98 and the US Army Corps of Engineers which has an extraordinary history. I confess I did not know much about its history so I learned a little before today," Lander told the lunchtime crowd. "The Army Corps was founded in June of 1775 before this country was even founded in order to provide the Continental Army and George Washington with the engineering and the fortifications and the capacity to deliver what our country has needed ever since
“For over two decades, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been an integral part of New York City, deepening dredges, strengthening bridges, and acting heroically after the September 11th attacks,” said New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin at the rally. “Yet, the federal government is threatening to relocate their office to New Jersey, which would have terrible consequences for these workers. The City Council stands with IFPTE Local 98, NYCCLC, and other allies in demanding that the federal government keep the Corps’ offices here.”
“New York City stands with IFPTE Local 98 and the civil servants of the Army Corps of Engineers’ New York District against this reckless plan to relocate their offices out of our city,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a statement. “New Yorkers deserve transparency, not a process that strips good union jobs from our city in the dark. I stand with my colleagues in government, on both sides of the aisle, in calling on the federal government to keep the experts who do this vital work, from making our communities more resilient to safeguarding our harbors and waterways, right here in New York.”
“I’m proud to stand with the working women of IFPTE Local 98 in their fight to keep the Army Corps of Engineers in New York City. Women play a critical role in preserving our infrastructure and resiliency,” said Council Member Susan Zhuang. “And now more than ever, it’s essential we’re preparing for a more extreme future. We must stand with the workers at the front lines of this fight in the Army Corps.”
“Making sure that the Army Corps of Engineers stays in New York City is a gender justice issue,” said Jen Gaboury of the Department of Gender Studies at Hunter College and First Vice President of PSC/CUNY. “It’s not only that New York City does not want to shed federal jobs. Following their entry into this work during World War II, women workers have not only gained ground but lead in critical areas: studying and preparing our coast in an age of climate disasters and responding to emergencies, local and beyond. These are highly skilled scientists and planners and engineers. New York City labor is here to say: Why would we give these jobs away without a fight? These workers, the majority of whom are women, belong with us!”
“Those attacking the federal workforce think that the women that serve this country are disposable and not worth consideration,” said Daniel Kim, President of IFPTE Local 98. “The women of IFPTE Local 98 since Janice Lauletta-Weinmann first founded our union have proved them wrong. I am proud to be fighting for the future of this country with some of the fiercest and most noble individuals that this world has to offer.”
“As a musician and union member who had the honor of playing in the U.S. Coast Guard Band, I know firsthand the value of my union sisters across our federal workforce,” said AFM Local 802 Financial Vice President Karen Fisher. “The proposed relocation of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will inevitably fall hardest on women workers. That is unacceptable. AFM Local 802 is proud to join with our fellow unions in demanding that the Army Corps of Engineers halt the relocation, consult with the union, conduct a full review, and keep the Army Corps offices in New York.”
In our second hour, we got an update on efforts to protect the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who are here in the US under temporary protective immigration status. Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration that wants to end the TPS status for both Haitians and Syrians whose countries still suffer from the same unstable conditions that prompted the granting of TPS originally.
Sabine French, a Queens based community activist, and Stephanie Delia, Esq, with the Haitian-American Lawyers Association made their case for the passage of US Senate Bill 4814 to protect Haitian families who have become such a part of the community and are a vital part of the healthcare workforce in both the hospital and congregant care settings.
We finished up with a preview of Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir's LIVE broadcast from the Quaker Meeting House in lower Manhattan this Sunday at 7 pm that will be hosted by Pacifica Radio's Jenna Flannagan. In this discussion we heard from both Rev. Billy and Savitri D, who is the director of the Church of Stop Shopping their latest musical production entitled "WE GOT TO MOVE."
